Sale of "The Forge", Shoreditch, Taunton

by Elizabeth RossiterCopy of a letter from Lizzie Rossiter, the final Clist-family-connected resident of The Forge cottage, to her second cousins Jack and Lucy Clist of Tauranga, New Zealand. Cover page + 4 handwritten pages.

The Forge cottage was the home that
Lizzie Rossiter shared with her brother Charlie at Shoreditch, Taunton,
which was sold subsequent to Charlie's death. This cottage was adjacent to the ancient Shoreditch Smithy,
which was successively operated by blacksmiths John Clist (my great-great-grandfather), George Clist
(my great-grandfather), and Ted Rossiter (Lizzie's father, who was George Clist's nephew and step-son).

The Forge was previously the home where George and Mary Clist lived with their family before they built
and moved to the Ivy Cottage just a short distance away. It maybe that John Clist and family had also lived there,
but this has not yet been confirmed to me. After George and Mary moved out, The Forge became the lifelong home
of Ted Rossiter and family.

Ted, daughter Lizzie and son Charlie were living at The Forge when we visited in 1973, at which time
the Smithy had fallen into disuse.

Hand copied by my mother
Bessie Clist, with significant note (Bessie's composition) at the very end of page 4.

Relevance to this site:The Forge cottage was the childhood home of my grandfather
Sidney George Clist,
from which he left to emigrate to New Zealand in 1910 in company with his younger brother
John Clist and their cousin and step-brother
Charles Rossiter.

Sidney only returned to Shoreditch once in later life,
by which time his parents had moved to their new home Ivy Cottage further down the road, having sold The Forge and
its Smithy alongside to
Ted Rossiter, who was Sidney and John's older cousin and step-brother.